Finish #2: Poirier vs Chandler
Poirier struggled with holding his emotions in check against Michael Johnson due to trash talking, as he had against Conor McGregor before that. But the next time he was faced with trash talk that would really pump up the blood, he had matured enough to not let the moment overwhelm him. Staying within himself as McGregor insulted his wife and daughter in front of the world was enough to prepare him for the maddening, blatant fouls Michael Chandler would commit against Dustin in 2022. Despite fouls giving Chandler the second round and nearly allowing ‘Iron’ Mike to finish the fight on multiple occasions with no interruption by referee Dan Mirgliotta, Dustin kept focus on the fight and won by showing the world he could still grapple.
Michael Chandler had never been submitted before in thirty pro fights, and is known to be a good wrestler who can scramble with the best of them. But Dustin is a jiu-jitsu black belt, and when Chandler rushed in trying to take Poirier’s back, the Diamond was able to block his second hook and completely reverse the position. Charles Oliveira had Chandler’s back and could not finish him there. Dustin Poirier did, with a rear-naked choke.
Dustin may famously lose by submission (rear-naked choke), in title fights, a fate which is likely to befall him again this weekend against Islam Makhachev, but he is not a bad grappler. He has defensive grappling flaws, yes, but those flaws have only led to him losing three times in the last decade, each time against one of the best grapplers in MMA history: Khabib Nurmagomedov and Charles Oliveira. Put Poirier in nearly any other division or era and he would be a champion, but the recent lineage of lightweight champions is as stacked as the legendary featherweight lineage, arguably. Submitting Michael Chandler proves that being outgrappled by them does not make Poirier a poor grappler whatsoever.
